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Chicken Cream

A steamed chicken cream made with minced chicken, cream, eggs, bread, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Chicken Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the panada

  1. Soak the bread in tepid water for 15 minutes, then wring it free of water using a clean cloth.

  2. In a pan, combine the butter and milk or white stock with the soaked bread and stir until it forms a smooth paste that leaves the sides of the pan.

Make the mixture

  1. Pound the minced chicken with the panada, then add pepper, salt, nutmeg, mace, egg yolks, and cream. Mix well and strain through a sieve if a finer texture is desired.

  2. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Steam and serve

  1. Butter small tin shapes, fill them with the mixture, and steam for 20 minutes.

  2. Serve on a potato border with butter or oyster sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Minced chicken
Provides the main protein that sets into a firm, sliceable body when steamed.
Eggs
Egg whites and yolks bind the mixture and set it into a light, tender custard-like texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the steamed chicken soft and smooth.
Bread
Soaked and cooked into a panada that adds body and helps keep the mixture moist.
Butter
Adds fat for flavour and richness, and helps the panada form a smooth paste.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that gives lightness; stirring them in vigorously knocks the air out, leaving a dense texture. Fold gently so the mixture stays airy as it steams.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, pepper, egg, nutmeg, butter, milk):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, pepper, egg, nutmeg, butter, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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